Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Adopt a GF Blogger: Kristina of No Gluten Required

Checking in with other gluten-free bloggers is a good way to get a fresh viewpoint on how to cook or plan meals. The Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event founded by Sea at the Book of Yum is a great incentive for me to check out what others are cooking for supper and to learn new kitchen tips.

For this round of Adopt a GF Blogger, I have picked Kristina, from No Gluten Required, a new Maryland resident (by way of Boston) with a degree in Gastronomy (impressive!) and an adventurous culinary spirit. On No Gluten Required you will find her musings and kitchen test notes about such diverse edibles as Bacon Pomegranate Salad on Endive, Sauteed Sweet Potato Leaves, Artic Char with Preserved Lemon, and Blueberry Rhubarb Brown Butter Almond Tart.

She also writes a really good rant now and then. See her post about GF flour blends here. And I was also impressed and educated when reading her latest post about how she felt upon relocating to a new hometown and having to relearn where to eat with ease and safety. It's a moving post about moving.

What is most striking to me is Kristina's header photo in which she brandishes her customized wooden kitchen utensils, each sporting a snappy Gluten Free logo she lasered herself at the MIT labs. Read all about that here. How cool is that?!

No Gluten Required had a recipe for GF Spaetzle, which is something I've been meaning to try some day, so I gave Kristina's recipe and technique a whirl. One works in small batches of 1/2 cups of spaetzle dough, so I had time to improve my spaetzle flinging technique. I found that my spaetzle was really clumping together in the first batch, so I flung smaller bits into my boiling water, a la Egg Drop Soup, and they were a little too threadlike and dissolved. I got the hang of things after the first several batches and then would put my last spaetzle batch in a colander to drain and then toss it with a bit of melted butter to keep them from clumping together.

We ate our spaetzle tossed with mushrooms sauteed in butter, a sprinkling of poppy seeds, snipped parsley and a little salt and pepper. Sehr gut!

The recipe made a bodaciously big batch of spaetzle. When I make it again I will cut the recipe in half as we only needed a small bowl of this substantial German comfort food favorite to fill our bellies. I would estimate that it made 8 hefty main dish portions. I would also boil up much more salted water for the spaetzle than several quarts, as I found that the water got gummy from the tapioca starch after the first several spaetzle boils and this made the resultant product stickier and stickier as the batches mounted.

You can see some of my other Adoptees in past posts here at the Crispy Cook:

And be sure to check out Sea's roundup at the Book of Yum after tomorrow's deadline, when there will lots a delicious GF smorgasbord for us to all sample.

I'm also sending a bowl of this gluten-free spaetzle over to Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly showcase of all things noodly, which is headquartered over at Once Upon a Feast. This week's guest host for Presto Pasta Nights is Helen of Fuss Free Flavours and she will be posting her delicious roundup this Friday night.

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This blog is an original work of creative expression by Rachel Jagareski. All photos, text, and original recipes herein are copyrighted by the author/artist Rachel Jagareski (c) 2007-2015. All rights are reserved by the author. Please contact me for permission to republish or broadcast any material beyond your own personal use. Thank you.